Leap of Faith
by justanoutlaw
Summary: They're just kids themselves, but when they run across a homeless child, they feel responsible to take care of her.
1. Chapter 1

This was a prompt submitted to me by oncer4life11. It's pretty interesting in my opinion and allowed me to get a little creative. Set whenEmma and Neal were still doing their Bonnie and Clyde act.

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Neal swung his backpack over his shoulder, sliding his hand into Emma's as they headed back towards the bug. It had been a good day. They had managed to get enough food for the week and if his calculations were correct, there was going to be a hotel room available for them to shower and relax for a bit the next day. The rain started to pick up, so both flipped their hoods up over their heads. Just as they turned the last corner, something caught Emma's eye. Anyone else probably would've missed it, but as a runaway herself, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

There was a bright pink baby blanket, covering something in the middle of an alleyway. She pulled away from Neal and headed down it, him following closely behind her. Emma knelt down and slowly pulled back the blanket. There she found a little girl, she couldn't have been more than 5. Her brown curls fell at her shoulders and she was shivering in her ripped t-shirt and shorts. Neal instantly removed his sweatshirt, wrapping it around her.

"Hi," Emma said, softly. A part of her knew how to interact with kids given her time in the system. She had tried to protect the little ones as she got older. "My name's Emma Swan, this is Neal. What's your name?"

"F…Faith," she whispered. "Please don't call my social worker."

Emma felt her heart crack in two and Neal noticed the haunted look on her face, the one she only got when she talked about her past. "We won't do anything right now. Do you want to come with us?" He knew they didn't have much to offer her, but they could turn on the heat in the bug and give her some food while they figured out what to do.

Faith looked hesitant, but she kept looking back at Emma. It was as if she noticed the look in her eyes, the one that said they were the same. She slowly nodded and held her arms up to Neal, who lifted her into his own. He could still remember The Lost Boys, the ones who would cry at night for their mothers. He saw the same devastation in Faith.

They made their way back to the bug and gave her a sandwich along with some candy from their stolen goods that day. She gobbled it down so quickly, as if it was going to be stolen from her. Neal turned on the car so the heat could warm them all and slipped in the Yaz tape. Eventually, Faith fell asleep against the backseat, still wearing Neal's sweatshirt as she cuddled her baby blanket to her chest.

"What are we going to do?" Emma whispered. "She's in the system, a home so bad that she ran away."

Neal sighed, telling where she was going. "Em, we don't even have a home for ourselves. We have to steal to get by."

"We could get jobs, go to a different town," she tried to convince her. There weren't many times that Emma came across as naïve and this moment, she knew she was, she just wanted to protect the little girl.

"She's not ours. Eventually, we'd get caught with her. Petty theft is a couple of months in jail. Do you know how much kidnapping is?"

Emma bit her lip, leaning back against the seat. She knew he was right. They couldn't keep her, not without putting all three of them at risk. It wasn't as if they could even become foster parents themselves. They didn't have an apartment or jobs. She deserved better than them.

"So, what do we do?" Emma repeated. "Take her to a police station? Put her back into the system? Someone did that for me when I was a kid and things didn't get better."

"What other choice do we have?"

He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. She let out a shaky breath, burying her head into his shoulder. Slowly, he rubbed her back. He wanted to keep Faith too, find a way somehow. It just wasn't possible.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered. "She's little, she'll find a home. If not now, at some point. Look at us, we have home with each other now."

Emma nodded. "You're right, I know you are."

They barely slept that night, knowing what they'd have to do the next morning. Using the little cash they had, Neal went to a local café and bought some donuts for them when the sun came up. Emma grabbed one of her shirts from the back and offered it to Faith, tying it a bit so it worked like a dress.

"Thank you," Faith said with a smile. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"I was like you once," Emma told her. "I ran away from my foster home and I had no one."

"What happened to your mommy and daddy?"

She gnawed on her lip. "They left me on the side of the road."

"Oh. Mine died. I've been in the system for 2 years."

"It will get better." Emma didn't want to give her false hope, but she wanted it more than anything for her. "I promise."

"You're calling my social worker?"

She shook her head. "We'll drop you off at the police station."

"Why can't I stay with you?"

"Oh Faith…we just…we can't take care of you. We can't even take care of ourselves. You deserve better than this."

Neal opened the door and slid into the back with them, distributing the donuts. Faith silently ate hers, leaning against Neal as she did. It made everything even more heartbreaking. A part of them almost drove straight of town, ready to start a new life, but they couldn't. It wasn't fair to Faith.

After their breakfast, they drove to the police station. Neal gave Faith a big hug before Emma took her hand and walked her to the door. Luckily the little girl understood if she walked her all the way in, she could get in trouble. Emma fished around in her pocket and found a gum wrapper. She scrawled out a number on the back.

"That's my cell, you call me if you need anything, okay?" Emma slid it into her hand. "You're going to be okay, Faith. I promise."

Faith nodded and then threw her arms around her legs. Emma hugged her tighter, kissing the top of her head. She stepped back and watched the little girl enter the station. Letting out a deep breath, she got back in the bug.

Every time her phone rang over the next two months, Emma expected it to be Faith, but it wasn't. She kept the same number over the years, even after prison and when she was on her own. Through every move, whatever happened, she kept waiting for it to come.

The curse broke and Neal came back into her life. They were working on a new relationship, figuring things out one day at a time. One day, Emma came home from a date night with Neal and Snow handed her a letter she had received. She didn't recognize the handwriting as she tore it open.

 _Emma,_

 _It took me some time to find your address, but there aren't too many Emma Swans in the U.S, I guess. I don't know if you remember me, but when I was a little girl, you and your boyfriend helped me out. You took me out of the cold and gave me some food. I know how badly you two wanted to keep me, but you brought me to the police station. A little after that, I was brought to a new foster home. Karen and Lucas ended up being my forever parents, they adopted me just a year later. I had a great childhood, everything I could ever want. I wouldn't have had any of it if weren't for you and Neal. I just graduated from high school and I'll be going to Boston University in the fall. I don't know if you two are still together, but I just wanted to thank you and Neal. You gave me hope in a really dark time. I hope you two were able to find your own happy ending. Thank you for giving me my best chance._

 _-Faith_

Tears sprung to Emma's eyes as she held the letter close to her heart. Snow looked at her, a little concerned.

"Emma, are you okay? Who was that letter from?"

Emma gave her a soft smile, wiping a tear. "Just me and Neal's little girl."

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Hope you guys enjoyed this. =) Let me know what you think. As always, prompts are accepted, whether it be on here or my Tumblrs: just-an-outlaw and justanoutlawfanfiction.


	2. Chapter 2

A few people asked to see a sequel with Emma and Neal reuniting with Faith along with Henry meeting her for the first time.

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Henry looked at the letter, confused, before looking back up at his parents. He wasn't quite sure what to think when they sat him down and said they had a little girl out there. As far as he knew, they didn't have any other children. Now things were slowly starting to make sense.

"So, you two took care of her?" He asked.

Emma nodded. "Just for the night, but she always stuck with us. We wanted to keep her so badly, but we weren't in the position to."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about her?"

"I don't know. For so long she was just our secret…kinda like how you were mine for all those years."

Neal put a hand on Emma's back. "We don't want you to think we love either of you any more than the other. She's coming to town to see us. Just know that your mom gave you up for the same reason we let go of Faith."

"She wanted to give me my best chance." Henry smiled over at Emma and then looked back at Neal. "I understand. I'm not mad at you guys or jealous. I actually think it's kinda cool, you took care of a kid when you didn't have to."

"We couldn't just leave her out there. We're just glad that like you, she was somewhere safe."

It took a lot of convincing around town to get people to act like their cursed personas for the day. It was hard on Snow, David, Belle and Rumple to not be able to meet their first would-be granddaughter properly. It would've been just too complicated to explain why they all looked to be so close in age. They had debated going to Boston to meet up with Faith, but they figured she could at least meet the rest of their family, even if she didn't know the full truth. The town line had been fixed so she'd be able to find it easily and leave with no problems.

Neal and Emma waited nervously outside of the diner, the former checking his watch every few minutes. It was weird to think that a girl they hadn't even known for 24 hours had such a lasting impact on their hearts, but they had fallen in love with her instantly, just as they had when they each first met Henry. She would always be their first child, even if they couldn't take care of her.

Eventually, a mini cooper pulled down the streets with Washington state plates and a bumper sticker from Boston University. It stopped right in front of them and the driver side door opened. A young woman, looking about 18, stepped out of the car. They knew instantly that it was her. She had cut her long hair and straightened it, along with adding some light blue highlights, but there was no mistaking it. She was wearing a familiar sweatshirt and it took Neal a minute to realize it was the same one he had leant her all those years ago. While it fit a little better, it was still big on her. She walked around the car, a hint of a smile going across her face.

"Emma? Neal?" Both slowly nodded and she let out a deep breath.

"Look at you," Emma whispered, stepping forward to put a hand on her cheek. "You're all grown up now."

"18 years old," Faith chuckled a little. "About the age you were when we met, right?"

"Yeah."

"Just…wow," Neal breathed. "I knew you'd be older, but I was picturing the little girl that clung to me."

Faith smiled. "You two don't look much different yourselves. Well, except Emma doesn't have glasses anymore."

They stood there for a minute, before the pair wrapped her into a big hug. She tightened her grip on both of them, burying her head into Neal's shoulder. She had missed them so much over the years. While at first, she had wished that they could've taken her with them, now she understood. She was really grateful, too.

Eventually, they all pulled apart, though Neal and Emma both kept an arm around her as they walked into the diner.

"There are people we want you to meet, but we figured we'd start with Henry," Emma said. "We told you about him in our letters."

"You gave him up for adoption, right?" Faith asked.

She nodded. "I got pregnant not long after we gave you up. We still weren't in the right position. His mom is really great about it, though. She lets us see him."

They made their way to the table where Henry sat. He looked up at the girl his parents had their grip on and smiled, standing up.

"Faith?" He asked.

"Yup, you must be Henry." She shook hands with him. "I guess you're like…my little brother, kinda."

Henry laughed. "Yeah, definitely. I always sort of wanted a big sister."

They slid into the booth together and ordered from Ruby, who couldn't help but grin widely at the little family reunion. Once she took the orders, as much as she wanted to stick around and be nosey, she headed off to fill them.

"So, what have you two been up to over the past 12 years?" Faith asked, looking from one to the other.

Emma and Neal knew they had to be careful about their responses, they couldn't expose their families. "We split up for a while," Emma replied. "Eventually, Henry tracked me down and it didn't take long for us to find Neal too, we got back together a little before you wrote your first letter."

"What about you?" Neal asked.

"Well, like I said, I got adopted a little after you two dropped me off. I had a pretty normal childhood after that, my parents made sure of that. I knew I wanted to help kids that were in my situation, so I'm studying social work right now." She softly smiled. "I have a boyfriend; his name is Craig. I figured I'd bring him on another visit."

Neal raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I need to meet this Craig. Make sure his intentions are honorable."

Emma rolled her eyes, playfully punching him in the shoulder. "Neal."

"What? No one hurts my little girl."

Faith grinned and looked over at Henry. "Are they always this dorky?"

"All the time. But they're still pretty cool," he replied with a smirk.

They spent the day together, with Faith meeting different members of their family. They hung out the park and watched movies at the loft. As it got later in the night, they knew it was time to say goodbye. Neal insisted on checking on the car while Emma told Faith she could call her if she needed any homework help (she had just started taking some community college classes herself). One last hug and a promise to keep in touch and she was off again. Neal slid his hand into Emma's.

"When we never heard from her after that night, I was worried," Emma admitted once the mini cooper was out of view. "Now, I can see you were right. We did the right thing."

Neal nodded. "She'll always be our first kid, though."

Emma rest her head on his shoulder, letting out a content sigh.


End file.
